The Cottage Journal Autumn 2016

From brightly colored leaves to blue skies and magnificent sunsets, it’s as though Mother Nature is revamping her personal style for the season. This issue follows her lead and is filled with homes and gardens that reflect the personal panache of the owners. We have an artist’s cottage, a mountain retreat, a farm with geese, as well as great ideas to help you make your surroundings reflect your taste. Furnishing your home in an authentic style is never more evident than in the story, “Living with the Things We Love,” on page 35. The couple have a “moveable feast” of treasured collectibles that can be enjoyed no matter where they are placed in the home. In the classic mountain cottage featured in “At Home in Box Canyon” on page 43,…

Since ancient times, botanicals have been preserved for their beauty and cataloged to identify different specimens. In Victorians days, slipping petals and leaves into a book was a way to remember a special person or occasion. Today, framed botanical collections are found hanging on walls as decorative art in cottages across the country. One artist known for her works with leaves and flowers is Lauren Lachance. For years she traveled with her inks and watercolors around the world to document plants. But, she shares, “when I discovered that delicately pressing can illustrate the essence and vitality of a plant, it became my passion.” Lauren explains that the herbier, whereby the plants are dried and pressed, is a centuries-old method of identifying plants to study and classify. “I lovingly evolved this…

“My mantra is ‘style and play, every day,’” —EMILY HENDERSON Don’t play by the rules—the design rules, that is. This is the message of Emily Henderson’s Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves. As a stylist, TV personality, and blogger, Emily foregoes the structured guidelines of the interior design world and encourages readers to do the same. Rather than building a room from the paint color up, she starts with a client’s favorite pieces—a chair, a handbag, a decorative vase—and works every detail around them until the room bursts with personality. During her time styling for photo shoots, Emily learned that even the smallest adjustments could take a room from so-so to magazine worthy. She explains how to use accents and pops of color to bring life into…

It’s always enlightening to see how top design experts–those who are in the business of offering their know-how on the latest home trends and decorating tips–live themselves. Designer Sarah Richardson certainly ranks high within this category. As a key fixture in the Canadian design world since the mid-1990s, Sarah has shared her refreshing, timeless style by being both an author and a familiar face on lifestyle television, such as HGTV. So, when she and her husband bought a 19th-century, run-down farmhouse in rural Ontario, it was time for her to draw upon all the expertise she had diligently brought to others over the years. For starters, the rustic structure not only required a full makeover, but also an expansion that proved to make the home more suited to Sarah’s energetic…

Before he begins a painting, artist David Arms must be inspired. From that inspiration comes the “soul” of his work. The same approach describes his decorating—inspiration and an organic style of living with what you love. David shares a home in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and two daughters that features many family heirlooms, but is decorated with mostly antiques store and flea market finds. As David puts it, “We tend not to think about trends. We just think about what we love and what kind of home we want to live in. By doing this, we don’t tire of it. I can truly say that it is authentic to who we are and what we love.” Early in his professional life, David made a name for himself orchestrating high-profile…

The majestic beauty of the mountains of North Carolina had lured this family for 30 years before they decided to build their own dream home in the Cashier’s area, a collaborative effort the homeowner says feels so right. For years, the family had shared a small home with another family, but as the children grew and had children of their own, more space was needed to enjoy the hiking trails, gorgeous views, trout fishing, and fun activities that initially attracted them to the area. They also needed space to spread out a board game or curl up with a good book. A team of two North Carolina firms was formed for the initial architectural plans with architect Sam Edgens to design the home and builder Sadlon & Associates to construct…